


of convenience

by sinspiration



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Admiral Shirogane, Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Arranged Marriage, Galra Keith (Voltron), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21826255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinspiration/pseuds/sinspiration
Summary: The wedding is to be universally televised. Shiro will be meeting his future partner at the altar. After the ceremony, the tradition is that the newly-married couple gets to sequester themselves in a private room while festivities go on outside. From what Shiro can understand, this is because usually the couple isn’t allowed to touch from the start of wedding preparation to the day of.Shiro tries not to think of it as the perfect window for an assassination attempt
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 40
Kudos: 441





	of convenience

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tixing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tixing/gifts).



> For a cool mod and neat person. I was assured that he would like this, so I hope he does!
> 
> (Thanks to Abbey for the beta and being a sneaky sneak.)

For as long as the war lasts, the ending is abrupt. Haphazard, with no one feeling satisfied. No side truly won, which is the usual way of war. But at least, in the end, everyone can also say no one truly lost.

(Ha)

And the Galra are a traditional bunch (Shiro knew that) and so they make a request (demand) of the Diplomatic Coalition. A show of good faith. That they’ll be working together on the same side.

It’s utterly ridiculous. Storybook levels of fantastic. Shiro almost asks if it’s a joke, when he’s approached about it.

He doesn’t. Galra don’t joke.

And the Galra know him as someone to want on their side.

To the coalition he’s Admiral Shirogane, assigned that position after working his way up. To the Galra he’s the Champion, awarded that name for nothing more than monstrous survival.

To the both of them, he’s strong, worthy, and… unpartnered.

An arranged marriage. Shiro might feel disgusted, if he weren’t so tired. Besides, he knows there are good Galra. He’s survived because of good Galra. But he’s wary of anyone who would be high-up enough in the hierarchy to marry him in a symbol of universal peace. After all, Shiro is his own sort of warlord. He doesn’t know what to expect. 

He tries picturing the very worst possibilities, so that anything less bad ends up being a pleasant surprise. It’s not hard to picture the worst. He did have a face and a name.

The wedding is to be universally televised. Shiro will be meeting his future partner at the altar. After the ceremony, the tradition is that the newly-married couple gets to sequester themselves in a private room while festivities go on outside. From what Shiro can understand, this is because usually the couple isn’t allowed to touch from the start of wedding preparation to the day of. 

Shiro tries not to think of it as the perfect window for an assassination attempt

***

The ceremony is ostentatious, but luckily Shiro doesn’t need to be a part of it. He gets shuffled from place to place and posed with various politicians for photos. Members of the press have been given strict instructions not to ask him any questions on penalty of ejection. Shiro watches this threat get followed through-on with no small amount of pleasure. The question was about his future partner, and Shiro doesn’t know anything as it is. Not a name. Not a gender. He isn’t sure if he hopes for male or doesn’t. 

Then it’s time. Since he and his future partner are to be equals in all things, they both approach the ceremonial water basin at the same time, from opposite sides of the room. Shiro has practiced walking to the tune of the music and knows his future partner must have done the same, to ensure that their steps are perfectly in sync.

He reaches the basin at the same time as his future partner does, and when he looks up to take them in, he has to keep from showing his surprise. The person is shorter than Shiro is. That’s unusual.

The person is also fully veiled, as is traditional. Shiro had tried to go along with being veiled too, but _interestingly enough_ having his eyes and mouth covered in fabric for a situation he wasn’t comfortable with did not incite a positive reaction. So he’s without a veil. It just means it’s even more important for him to do everything else right.

He says the words he’s supposed to say. He walks in the pattern he was taught to walk. He says more words, and then his future partner reaches out toward his face, fingers elegant and tapered. Shiro freezes for a moment before he realizes that he’s supposed to be doing the same thing. His future-- _his partner_ doesn’t have a veil to lift. Shiro does.

He takes a quiet, subtle breath through his nose and lifts the veil.

***

Everything else until he is led to the private room is a blur. The room is more like a little hotel suite, with a bed taking up one large side of it, and a table full of food and drink, along with a couch, taking up the other side. Their attendant shows them the little closet where their next change of clothes are being kept for when they’re through with the room, and then he and his new husband are left blinking at each other in the new silence of the suite.

Shiro doesn’t know what to say. 

_How did you get to be here?_

_You were with the rebels._

_I thought you were dead._

“You aren’t who I expected to marry.”

His new husband-- _Keith,_ Shiro _knows_ him--flinches. “They thought I would be a good match. You didn’t hate me, before.”

Shiro doesn’t hate him now, either. “That isn’t what I meant. I’m sorry. I just… how? I thought it would be someone…” 

Keith tilts his head, eyes narrowed.

_Fuck it._ “I expected a warlord or a politician. I didn’t expect a Blade.” 

_I didn’t expect you._

Keith purses his lips, but he nods. “We could tell how things would end. My leader predicted a union. We worked to put me in a position to be chosen. They leveraged my heritage as proof I would make a good mate.”

“Heritage?”

Keith looks to the door that had been closed behind them. “My father.”

Of course. Keith’s human father. They’d spoken about him a little, Keith’s smile sad but eager as Shiro had told him more about Earth. Keith had been able to ask questions and ask for explanations and Shiro had indulged him as best he could. He’d been beautiful, bright and brilliant.

Now he’s cleaner than he was then, healthier, dressed and bejeweled. He’s even more gorgeous… but much more unhappy.

“I’m sorry,” Shiro says quietly. It’s not much to offer, but it’s what he has.

“What for?” Keith asks.

Shiro gestures at himself. “For this. Being stuck with me. I’m sure you were hoping for more than a political marriage.” 

Keith’s lips thin. “I wanted to survive. You’re better.”

Shiro’s stomach twists. That sounds as though Keith hadn’t been given much choice in the matter. If any at all. “Keith, if there’s anything I can do--”

“I’m hungry,” Keith announces, going to the table. “We can talk more about this later.”

True enough, Shiro thinks wryly. They’re got plenty of time now. And he’s hungry too, he realizes. He hadn’t had much appetite before the ceremony but now he could definitely eat. Keith has the right idea.

He grabs a plate as well and they both quietly serve themselves. The only place to sit is the couch or the bed, and they look at each other and then both make their way toward the couch. Keith takes one end and Shiro takes the other.

Keith tears into his food, and Shiro frowns at it. “Did they not feed you?”

“I was fasting,” Keith says as he chews. “It’s customary.”

Shiro stares at him. “For how long?”

“Just since last night. It’s fine. I was allowed to drink.” Shiro isn’t sure what his expression is, but it’s enough to get Keith to roll his eyes. “I’ve gone without for longer, and for worse things. It’s not a big deal.”

Shiro licks his lips. “Is there a reason?”

“What?”

“For the fasting.”

“Oh.” Keith’s gaze flickers back to his plate. “It’s for purity. The people getting married aren’t thinking of anything but of each other and the union.”

“Oh.” That almost sounds nice. Except that there really isn’t anything about this that’s for purity. He takes a hesitant bite of food and then for several minutes there is only the sound of them chewing.

As he eats, he can’t help _thinking._ Shiro had truly been expecting a hardened veteran or an uptight political pawn. He could never have dreamed for the spitfire pilot he’d come across during a raid and then spent the subsequent days holed up with, surviving on easy camaraderie. They’d each been rescued by their own people and Shiro had kept an eye out for Keith’s team. 

He’d watched the ship blow. He’d mourned. 

And now he was married to the man who had made Shiro laugh in the middle of a war, while the both of them were injured and scared and sure that their moments together would be their last moments altogether. 

It’s better than anything Shiro could have ever hoped for. Keith is--he’s a glowing star. Lovely and fierce and strong. What is Shiro but a scarred body full of trauma? He has nothing to offer.

Is there any part of this marriage that is at all positive for Keith? 

If nothing else, he has to know… “Did you have a choice?”

“What?”

Shiro bites down a growl. “In marrying me. Did they give you a choice?”

Keith’s eyes widen. It makes him look younger, more open in a way that has Shiro clenching his teeth. It’s so unfair. It’s so unfair for Keith to have lost so much and at the end of it all, not even get to have the pleasure of finding a loved one. “Shiro…”

It’s the first time Keith’s said his name. Shiro tries not to list toward him. Amid the devastation of war and fighting and turmoil, his brief time with Keith had been a little bright spot. A highlighted, happy memory. That even in the worst, darkest times, there could be moments like the ones he’d gotten to share with Keith. That there were people out there worth it. Worth fighting for. 

Until Keith’s ship had gone down, Shiro had thought of him as someone worth surviving for.

“I just need to know,” Shiro manages. “I know it won’t change anything. But I’ll do my best to make you happy. However you came to marry me, please, I’ll try everything I can, everything I know.”

“Shiro,” Keith says again. He sets his plate down on the arm of the couch and moves across the cushions until he’s right next to Shiro. Shiro could reach out and touch him, if he believed himself worthy.

But then Keith closes the distance himself, moving to cup Shiro’s face with one hand, thumb stroking Shiro’s cheek. “There wasn’t a choice.”

Shiro closes his eyes and takes a breath, accepting.

His eyes reopen and widen at Keith’s next words, said so earnestly that Shiro can't disbelieve them, even as he barely dares to hope. “I wouldn’t have let anyone else have you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yell with me about sheith on [Twitter?](https://twitter.com/justsayins)


End file.
